Rolling hoop guide



Jan. 3, 1961 E. GUNSET 2,966,761

ROLLING HOOP GUIDE Filed Dec. 17, 1958 INVENTOR. [av/.5 m/sir BYEW United States Patent ROLLING HOOP GUIDE Louis E. Gunset, 2259 Ryer Ave., Bronx 57, N .Y.

Filed Dec. 17, 1958, Ser. N0. 781,063

2 Claims. (Cl. 46-220) The object of the invention is the provision of a guide ring with a guide handle which may be opened and placed around a hoop. so that with the handle the hoop may be propelled forward by a person walking and steered in the manner of the front wheel of a bicycle or it may be drawn along behind as the person walks and, also, it may be turned in a circle or any other are.

A still further object is the provision of a ring in association with the guide handle and provided with a plurality of spherical members such as, for example, beads or ball bearings freely rotatable on the ring, whereby the propelled hoop engages only the rotatable spheres so that friction between the hoop and the guide is minimized and the hoop does not get hot.

The above as well as additional objects will become evident in the following description having reference to the accompanying drawings wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the drawings. It is to be noted that the drawings are intended solely for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the exact details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawings,

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a guide for a rotary hoop embodying features of the present invention.

. Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same illustratmg how the two complementary halves of the guide ring and handle may be swung apart.

F g. 3 is a view of one of the spherical members.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a detail of the ring, showing the interengaging mutually pivoted portlons of the ring with the hinge pin separated therefrom, all enlarged.

Fig. 5 is a view of one of the two semispherical members.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral indicates a circular band or ring of any desired material although for the purpose of adult use it should preferably be made of relatively heavy material such as, for example, steel. An elongated guide handle 11 is formed of two complementary half-sections 12 and 13.

The ring 10 is formed of two semi-circular arcuate portions 14 and 15 pivoted together at one end, shown at 16, by means of a pivot pin 17 which is removable. Thus the ring may be opened about the pivot 16.

Each of the complementary longitudinal half-sections of the handle 11 has at its extremity a reduced portion 18, each of which is securely fastened to the extremity of one of the other ends 17 of the ring portions 14 and 15. The two handle sections 12 and 13 are adapted to be mutually interlocked by means of screw bolts 19, and when so interlocked they hold the ring tightly together.

In Fig. 1 the ring 10 is shown having a plurality of spherical members or balls 21 mounted freely rotatable thereon with two semi-spherical members positioned at each side of the extremities 18 of the handle. The

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members 20 and 21 may be made of any suitable material and any color or multiplicity of colors, the ring, as described above, being formed in the fashion of a key ring. Thus the spheres may be removed or reassembled on the ring in an obvious manner, by first separating the two ring portions 14 and 15 by removing the pivot pin 17. As illustrated in Fig. 3, each of the spheres 21 has a diametrical passage 21a therethrough which, as shown, itself has a diameter sufficiently larger than that of the ring to permit free rotation of the sphere on the ring.

As mentioned above, the screw bolts 19 serve to hold the two handle sections 12 and 13 together and they may be removed to allow separating the handle sections to install the hoop.

In guiding a hoop the spheres offer very little resistance and will turn as the guided hoop turns through an angle to the axis of the hoop in either direction. Likewise. as is obvious, the handle may be tilted at any angle to the plane of the propelled hoop and this is desirable in turning the hoop in an arc. The spheres, which are loose on the ring 10, may also be made tone-emitting so that they give off a pleasant tinkling sound, if desired, as the hoop is propelled.

The bilaterally symmetrical two-part handle and guide ring with the spheres thereon, make the guide readily and quickly attachable about the hoop, in an obvious manner.

Thus a useful and practical as well as entertaining exercising device has been provided, in the form of a hoop rolling structure and a hoop engaged and propelled thereby with practically universal movement permitted between the hoop and the guide.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A hoop rolling device for rolling and guiding a hoop comprising a ring formed of two circumferential sections pivoted together at one end whereby the sections may be swung apart about the pivot to open the ring to engage the ring about a hoop, means for locking the other ends of the ring sections together to close the ring, said means including an elongated handle, said ring having a plurality of closely spaced spheres of equal diameter rotatably mounted on their axes thereon, said spheres having diametrical passages therethrough through which the ring passes, the diameter of said passages being larger than the diameter of the ring to permit free rotation of the spheres on the ring.

2. A hoop rolling device for rolling and guiding a hoop comprising a ring formed of two circumferential half-sections pivoted together at one end, a handle formed of two longitudinal half-sections extending from the ring in alignment with a diameter thereof, each of said handle sections being rigid with one of the other ends of the ring sections, means for locking said handle sections and hence said ring sections together to close the ring about a hoop, each of said ring sections having a plurality of closely spaced spheres of equal diameter rotatably mounted on their axes thereon and occupying substantially the whole of the arcuate length of the ring section, said spheres having diametrical passages therethrough through which the ring sections pass, the diameters of said passages being larger than the diameter of the ring sections to permit free rotation of the spheres thereon, said handle sections comprising mirrored complements to each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,562,522 Boyd July 31, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,603 Austria Mar. 26, 1901 

